


The Green Arrow Bandit

by UltimateSaturn



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Black Canary (Comics), Green Arrow - All Media Types, Justice League - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Origin Story, F/M, Redemption
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-03
Updated: 2018-04-03
Packaged: 2019-04-17 22:11:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14198733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UltimateSaturn/pseuds/UltimateSaturn
Summary: Black Canary and Batman work together to stop the thief known as Green Arrow, but will he prove to be another criminal, or is there a hero lying underneath?





	1. Chapter 1

Burnside, City Of Gotham, NJ

Burnside was the life of Gotham, a below average crime rate allowed for it to have the biggest nightlife of the the east coast, lights shining high and bright, concert venues in business every night and a slew of expensive penthouse apartments where plenty of expensive parties and company operated. 

One such penthouse was property of Roland Dagget, a collector of old and expensive antiquities of Miagani, the namesake of the native tribe that inhabited the islands of Gotham before the European settlers came forth. Now all that remained of their legacy was the name of one of the islands of the city and feeble activist groups that the higher ups in the system did their best to silence. Spoils of a once proud group now were held captive of sorts by people like Dagget. Across his main room were numerous expensive paintings, armaments and other possessions of the tribe.

Across from the vacant penthouse stood a man clad in a green hooded suit on the building opposite. Surveying the establishment with his tactical goggles which bore the look of simple sports sunglasses. He brought up a large compound bow and shot of zipline arrow into the roof and zipped across to land on the skylight where he silently stepped down into the room of antiques. He couldn't see much except for what the night sky could illuminate, luckily for him his target was one of those things. 

A painting positioned as if it were a holy grail in the centre depicting a European “explorer” outstretching his hand to the Miagani tribe. 

“Bullshit” the man in the hood muttered under his breath as he stepped forward and removed the painting from its glass, rolling it up and placing it in a plastic tube container which he slung around his back into his quiver. 

He turned around only to be scared half to death upon seeing the silhouette of a woman standing at the other end of the room where he was once standing. The small fragments of light cascaded down her apparent platinum blonde hair. She was clad in head to toe black with the sides of her legs exposed in a fishnet stocking like material, she had a leather jacket that was positioned towards the upper half of her torso calling attention to a bird like pattern hinted with a similar fishnet material near her chest. 

He swallowed his breath.

“I believe we're at the stage in our professional relationship where you can tell me your name” She called out in a commanding yet amused tone as she crossed her arms.

“Black Canary,” He said as he pressed a button on his belt that modulated his voice down an octave as a disguise. “Followed me all the way from California to this dump, I'm touched” 

“Not hard for a member of the Justice League.” She said continuing to smirk as she stepped forward allowing the light to show her face and choker around her neck.

“You guys take this whole neighborhood watch thing too seriously.” He said shaking his head walking forward to find that Canary had pressed her hand forcefully against his chest halting his movement causing him to smirk.

He grabbed her hand with his and attempted to throw her over his back, instead as she flew through the air she used her feet to latch onto his head pulling him over instead, knocking him on the floor.

Sharply getting up he pulled a crossbow from his sidearm holster and aimed a grapnel shot up to the skylight and catapulted himself onto the roof. Black Canary ricocheted herself off of a support pillar to catch up to him and then vault kicked him backwards once reaching the roof. The two continued to trade blocks and counters as if they were playing a video game. Eventually Canary made him trip over the ledge where she grabbed him by the front of his jacket. He then used a small taser to make her let go to allow him to pull off a backwards somersault in the air as he brought out his bow and aimed a grapnel arrow into the building wall allowing him to swing down below. 

Canary free ran as fast as she could to the ground without breaking her legs, to then hear a motorcycle engine revving on behind her. She turned to the building’s parking garage to see a single yellow light quickly turn on as her purp sped out into the alleyway, now wearing a helmet. While taking cover behind a dumpster he quickly stopped the bike to give a quick salute before closing the visor of the helmet and speeding off down the alleyway and onto the road.

Just as she was about to sound off a sigh of defeat she heard another engine speed up behind her, before realising what was happening she found herself grabbed by the arm onto the bike by a large built man in grey and black armour, topped off with a cape and pointy ears. It was Batman. 

The two raced on after the man in the green hood as a they swerved through oncoming traffic.

“Hey Bats, what brings you to my neck of the woods?” She said grabbing onto his waist as the traffic became worse. 

“Him, yesterday a pearl necklace was stolen from the Wayne vault by a man matching his description, I checked out the poorly written file you made on him and cross referenced his mo to this place.”

“Yep, Green Arrow is his handle, chased him all the way to Star City and back again, jerk is good and cocky. Hey wait is this my bike?” Dinah called out, more annoyed by that than anything else. 

“It's pulling a bit to the right” Batman uttered nonchalantly while barely dodging a truck.

“SHE’S special and you're abusing her, hey!” The two fought like children and eventually ended up switching positions in the middle of an active chase without crashing. Black Canary, now happy with arrangement, especially since Batman's cape wasn't in the way, now managed to gain significant distance towards Green Arrow. 

Noticing this Green Arrow brought up his communicator through the display on his bike. “Hey Dodge? We got a problem here!” He called out in a nervous but still sarcastic tone to his partner who was several blocks away sitting in the driver’s seat of a black van playing a game on a stolen Nintendo Switch. 

“What did Black Canary get the drop on you again?” Dodger sarcastically asked while continuing to play his game in his slightly cockney London accent. 

“Yes! And she brought Batman with her!” Green Arrow called out while dodging a batarang. 

“Bloody Hell! How does she keep doing that!?” He said slamming the Switch down and grabbing his earpiece.

“Got no clue buddy just think of something, I'm coming to ya.” He said while taking an abrupt turn towards Dodger’s location. 

“What am I meant to do!?” He shouted while stepping out of the messy van onto the street where the chase was about to lead them down.

Dodger fiddled around his long blue trench coat for some gadget to help them in their current predicament. He pulled gadget after gadget tossing each out after realising how useless they'd be here. “Go to America, it'll be way more fun than rain infested London…” Dodger muttered about his life choices. 

“Hurry Dodge!” Arrow called out as his bike passed him on the street with the Leaguers not too far behind.

“Uh… what do I… oh they're on a bike” Dodger turned around with a smile towards the leaguers while outstretching his electrically charged nightstick with a flick of the wrist. 

“Canary slow down!” Batman called out upon realising Dodger wasn't a random pedestrian.   
“When have I ever?-” She turned back to say before the entire bike was toppled completely over as Dodger had hit them in the wheel by his nightstick causing them to crash into a parked car and land either side of it in pain.

Green Arrow came riding in and parked next to Dodger upon seeing the crash.

“Hey are they ok?” Green Arrow said with concern at the sight, while stepping off his bike. 

“Oh they're… definitely fine!” Dodger suddenly replied ignoring his general cool calm and collected tone upon seeing Black Canary sit up on her shoulder.

The two of them acted like scared school girls as they hurled the bike into the back of the van as they sped off into the van, Dodger in the driver's seat and Green Arrow in the back with the bike on the floor.

They rocketed themselves across the street in the van scraping a couple cars along the way. Black Canary got up and looked after the escaping truck in frustration as she breathed heavily while wiping the blood away from her lips, smudging her black lipstick in the process. 

Over in Dodger's truck, Green Arrow relaxed in the back removing his motorcycle helmet while grabbing a can of coke that was rolling around the floor. Under the helmet was the face of a male model, his perfectly highlighted blonde hair and light stubble were that of notable humanitarian and ex-businessman Oliver Queen.

Wayne Enterprises, The Next Day

Bruce Wayne, the majority shareholder of Wayne Enterprises was fixing his tie in his office mirror as he stood in front of his office's large glass walls providing a view of the skyline of Founder's Island where most of the major multinational corporations were stationed, as well what was put on the tourist websites. Bruce checked his appearance in the mirror one last time before attending to the first of many meetings he had that day. He wore a three piece charcoal suit which covered all the bruises he had gained during the night before. Upon checking his perfectly slicked back hair his intercom turned on.

“Mr Wayne your 8 o’clock is here.” Called out his secretary Sharon.

“Thank you Sharon send them in.” Bruce replied naturally increasing the pitch of his voice while still making it sound natural to use with the public.

Bruce looked towards his glass door to find Sharon welcoming his guest, opening the door for him, leading him into the office before closing the door behind her. In front of him stood the handsome and winner of last year's humanitarian of the year award, Oliver Queen. He carried himself well with a mischievous grin counteracted by his sleek and form fitting grey suit which had the blazer open, collar button undone as all as no tie to be seen. Despite this he still looked like he was fully prepared for the meeting that was about to unfold.

“Oliver it's good to see you again, old friend.” Bruce said while shaking his hand.

“We both know that's a lie,” Oliver said while turning back to see that an older African American man had walked in.

“I'm sorry I'm late Bruce, Mr Queen, it's a pleasure to meet you.” Came the voice of Lucius Fox. 

“Lucius this is Oliver Queen, Oliver I'd like to introduce to you the CEO of Wayne Enterprises, Lucius Fox.” Bruce said, as the two men shook hands and exchanged the prototypical business greetings.

When all of the men took their seats, Bruce and Lucius behind the office desk and Oliver in the chair in front, the meeting could properly begin. 

“How can we help you Mr Queen?” Lucius asked in a pleasant tone.

“Well as you know after my return to civilisation 4 years ago I gained control of Queen Industries, dissolving all assets focussing everything on the development and the work that the Queen Foundation does. Recently we've been pursuing the education sector, we wish to start a scholarship and grant programme for low income families to allow them to send their kids through to college. But this proves to be a great task given the scale we wish to work at, so I would like to make this a cooperative endeavour between the Queen Foundation and the Martha Wayne Foundation for Arts and Education which is owned by Wayne Enterprises and controlled by you Mr Wayne.”

“So what specifically would you like Mr Queen?” Lucius asked. 

“Despite our resources, the relationship that Wayne Enterprises has with many partners is unpresidented. In order to accomplish this we wish to work with you.” Oliver finished in probably the most endearing and serious tone he'd ever used.

“It means a lot to us that you came to us Mr Queen.” Mr Fox said earnestly after looking to Bruce to confirm his suspicions. “However, due to the way you operate, we can't be seen doing business with you.” 

Oliver's face fell, not out of insult but out of pure disappointment as well as seeing it coming. “Please, the amount of lives we can help if we do this…”

“It's not that, Oliver frequently you have been disrespectful and even abusive to people you disagree with, you even punched a senator in the face last month, for what was it? Oh yeah his stance on gun control.” Bruce interjected.

“He'd rather children die in school than form a registry…” Oliver feebly replied. 

“That's not the point, whether we agree with you or not, we can't award behaviour like this.” Lucius continued. 

“I loved my mother, she taught be about tolerance and respecting others even if they don't respect the ground you stand on. Oliver despite what you preach you seem to be extremely petty and childish, and backtalk anyone who gets in your way. I don't want my mother's name to be associated with you.” Bruce stated, letting some of the past trickle into his speech.

Oliver let out a sigh and blinked back a tear. 

“Thank you for your time…” Oliver said while getting up to walk away. Before reaching the door however, he stopped in his place and clenched his first before gaining back his composure. “Mr Fox, may I speak to Mr Wayne in private?” Oliver asked returning to a fake smile.

“Sure thing, just saying, there are cameras.” Lucius said to Oliver before leaving.

“Oliver?” Bruce asked in a surprisingly confused tone.

“Funny, you pull all this bullshit and you think you can get self richous on me?” Oliver gave off a small laugh.

“What are you talking about?” Bruce asked crossing his arms.

“I know your secret Bruce, it's almost funny given what you just said about your Mom.” Oliver smiled at him in a cocky voice. 

“Listen Oliver…” 

“No, I know all about it, the money embezzling.” Oliver laughed in a triumphant tone.

“What?” Bruce replied in a confused tone but then realized what he meant.

“Millions of dollars every year disappears from the Wayne Enterprises budget and no one knows where it goes, and in the past few that number has gone up by 70% and ya know what, tones of people in your board pull this crap to dodge taxes, but nothing on the scale you do it on ever since you started working here. Once my people find out where that money is going there won't be anything stopping me from taking this company from your jailed hands.” Oliver laughed while stepping to the door. “ That sob story about your Mom and Dad, I guess it was just an act all along you never did care about their memory or anybody else, since you steal from this country every day to buy what? A few extra yachts? I thought maybe after what happened to Jason you'd wake up but ya didn't, you're just the same old Bruce Wayne.”

As Oliver left the room, Dinah Lance also known as Black Canary stepped through the glass doors a few moments later wearing essentially what she was earlier minus the overt crime fighting gear. She found Bruce with a dazed expression on his face, with glazed eyes he realised that Dinah had snuck passed security and was now placing her hand on his shoulder to wake him up.

“Huh, sorry Dinah, do we have a meeting?” Bruce saying compartmentalizing his emotions after what had just happened. 

“Yes but that's not important, you look freaked, do you wanna talk about it?” She asked in a concerned tone. 

“You're a child and youth therapist Dinah, anyways I doubt any therapist could help me.” Bruce said while pushing back the head of the bust he kept of his grandfather revealing a scanner which shone a light on the two of them.

Dinah rolled her eyes at his comment as a computerized female voice confirmed their designations.

“Recognised, Batman 02, Black Canary 08.” Came the voice of Gideon the advanced AI of the justice league. 

“Gideon activate Zeta-Tube platform, destination, Watchtower.” Bruce commanded, and within a second of him saying so the bookshelves of the office rolled back to reveal a large circular mechanical tube with gears at the back turning in all directions as a large white light turned on. 

“We should probably change first” Dinah said.   
Bruce pressed another button on the back of the bust which caused two sections of the floor to roll back, bringing up to large black columns which opened to reveal their suits. Ignoring the need for any separation the two changed into their uniforms, Bruce taking considerably longer as Dinah only had to strap on some shin pads and arm guards as well as holstering a few gadgets including her tonphas on the sides of her legs, not to mention touching up her makeup to add some more eyeshadow, which she stole from Bruce's hands which he used to complete the look of the cowl.

With the two fully dressed they stepped into the light as it broke them apart atom by atom until they had completely vanished, with that the tube powered down and the office returned to normal, like nothing had happened.


	2. Come Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Oliver and Dodger plan their next heist, Bruce and Dinah gather reinforcements.

Watchtower, Secret Orbital Headquarters of the Justice League

Batman and Black Canary reappeared inside of a similar tube on a viewing platform inside of the watchtower. The marble floor that they walked out on was met with a breathtaking view of the Earth and stars as seen by the large clear wall that was on their right. To their left was a central column containing an elevator which they subsequently walked into at a leisurely pace. 

“Recognised Captain Marvel 18” Came the voice of Gideon near the zeta tubes. All of a sudden, just as the elevator door was about to close Captain Marvel sped his way inside nearly getting his cape trapped in the door.

“Sorry guys, didn't mean to startle you!” Came the chirpy innocent voice of the Captain.

“It's ok Billy, it's fine” Black Canary reassured him in a maternal tone, whereas Batman just gave one of his glares. 

“Meeting room 4, Gideon.” Batman suddenly said breaking the awkward silence.

The three were then taken upstairs to the meeting room, a large room with a similar view of the earth to the zeta platform, but this room had a large table that had plenty of seats for all the members of the league to sit and discuss. Once the three got there, they could see that Superman, Wonder Woman, Zatanna, Captain Atom, Vixen, both Green Lanterns and Aquaman had already arrived and had taken their seats having casual conversations. Captain Atom however was going over a couple files on his phone before the meeting as he was the League's Chair. 

As Cyborg and Nightwing walked in to represent the Titans, Black Canary continued her talk with Batman. 

“So how are we gonna deal with our green friend? We won't have much time to track him given I'm guessing Nate is gonna have us do covert security for Atlantis' welcome to the UN.” Black Canary asked.

“Whatever Captain Atom asks us to do, I'm sure we'll be able to tackle him in our off time.” Batman replied keeping up his formality. 

“I don't think we're gonna have any free time, shall we ask Vic’s team to look into it?” She continued while giving a nod to Dr Fate and Icon as they walked in. 

“The Titans are busy with tracking down the last of Luthor’s 33.1 facilities, we shouldn't burden them more, many of them do need to attend school.” Batman whispered while rolling his eyes at Huntress as she walked in. 

“You're too protective of them, they can handle it.” She replied.

“Any reason why I shouldn't be?” Batman asked rhetorically while looking in the direction of the empty chairs of the second Flash, Barry Allen and second Blue Beetle Ted Kord, not to mention the thoughts of Jason still lingering in his head. Canary slouched in her seat at that, clearly not wanting to remember what happened to her friends, Batman noticed this and reconsidered. “There is one person on the Titans that can help with this.” Batman hinted while being careful not to let Powergirl and Martian Manhunter hear as the took their seats next to him and Canary.

“No, I'm not putting that on him!” Canary said in a voice that gathered a few looks from the others. 

“He knows more about him that us,” Batman responded, once the rest had moved on.

“... Fine but I'm the one asking him.” Black Canary begrudgingly agreed once noticing Red Tornado the last member who was now walking in, meaning that Captain Atom was about to begin.

Batman gave a nod of approval just as Captain Atom began the meeting. 

Founders Island, City of Gotham. NJ

After the meeting, Oliver found himself walking amongst the shoppers and tourists on founders island, everywhere he went he could see hundreds of people walking around the city centre taking pictures or taking the subway to the other attractions of the city. Rarely people looked at the city in the day, everyone always thought Gotham was a hell hole. But that wasn't true, in actual fact Gotham was just another city, what gives everyone that Impression is the poverty divide. In this city the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, and since the rich control the city they complain about the conditions, money comes in which they all take for themselves.

Oliver stood on a bridge near Cassidy Square Station, the largest train station in the city, as he looked over the dozens of people in the coffee shop below, he rolled a coin between his fingers as his eyes were glued to all the executives with their expensive watches and necklaces. His mouth came close to watering as his eyes followed them like hawks.

He was a natural born thief. 

“Hey man.” Came the cunning voice of Dodger who walked up to meet him on the bridge.

“We're gonna have to pull off plan B, you scouted it out?” Oliver asked him still looking at the crowd with a smirk.

“Was afraid you'd say that,” Dodger said pulling out his phone which had schematics of Wayne Manor on it and showed it to Oliver. “The place is a bloody fortress, his security is insane, I've never seen anything like it.” 

Oliver took his phone in his hand and stood up straight looking through the schematics.

“We need to get this stuff Dodge, I mean the penthouse vault in the tower was hard enough. But all the good stuff will be in the manor.” Oliver replied, Dodger giving him the appropriate response of a sigh.

“Can't believe all he kept in the office was a pearl necklace.” Dodger said as the two decided to walk across the bridge. 

“They were his mother's, I mean my morals are loose but this is too much. I'll drop it off in the manor on our way out. Like a calling card.” Oliver said pulling them out and twirling them in his hands.

“Hey Ollie for a guy with loose morals, you certainly do the right thing a lot. I mean you turned me into a freedom fighter, it feels awesome.” Dodger said trying to cheer him up.

“I'm happy I could corrupt you.” Oliver laughed as the two walked down some steps to the street.

“Hey Oliver!” Dodger grabbed his attention to a guy standing in a nearby alleyway cloaked in black looking directly at them.

“It's a pleasure to meet you Mr Queen, or should I say The Green Arrow Bandit?” The man called out in an Eastern European accent. Oliver and Dodger were taken aback by the statement and the two walked down the alleyway, Dodger pulling out his electrified nightsticks.

“Don't act like that, I'm merely here to offer you a proposition, a contract as you say.” The man said whilst keeping his face hidden under his black cloak and hood.

“Well our parents told us not to follow creepy men into alleyways, regardless, we don't accept contacts, we're free agents and like to keep it that way.” Oliver remarked keeping his hands in his pockets while looking the man down.

“You fashion yourselves as social justice warriors don't you? For every heist you pull off an anonymous donation to a charity appears the next day, you saved the Glades school district in Star City from another decimating budget cut, exposed a human trafficking operation in New Orleans, took down three money embezzling tycoons in Central City. Not to mention your frequent assistance to native American and lgbt communities.” The man listed off, gaining the two's attention.

“So you're good on Google, what ya need us for?” Dodger asked hastily.

“You see I'm from the nation of Vlatava which is currently undergoing a civil war, you see one of Bruce Wayne's shell companies has been selling weapons to both sides of the conflict in exchange for various items of heritage for our people, which earn a mighty sum on the black market. Yet another example of western dominance and privilege.” The man explained, while tossing them a dossier of the information.

Dodger read through it quickly, it contained various amounts of evidence backing up the man's claims, bank transactions, shipping schedules, concrete proof.

“It's legit Oliver.” Dodger told him.

“Why you coming to us? Why not Interpol, or even the Justice League?” Oliver asked him after briefly skimming the file.

“If they handled this the items would be seized by the authorities and our nation would never get them back, they'd just be sold and resold constantly in an endless cycle. And if the great Green Arrow Bandit, the hero of the people were to pull this off, think of the message it'd send to the world and to the ones in charge. That no one, not even one's as rich as Bruce Wayne can abuse their power.” the man said.

“Ok… but we barely have a plan on getting into the place, it's a fortress, even with our tech there's no way we can-” Oliver began to say before the man dropped a suitcase in front of him.

“I don't think it'll be a problem with this, certain items I've acquired in my travels, after all there is honour amongst thieves.” He explained as Oliver brought out an enhanced bow that had the aim and power of a compound but the speed and ease of use as a recurve. Dodger pulled out a series of metal discs with a trigger to administer a shock to them. “The specific item I need is a staff that looks a lot like a simple cane but with a dragon head on the hilt, it's a priceless treasure of our nation. What do you say, I'm sure there'll be more than enough in that vault to help you with the college grants.”

“Very well, I say we have a deal.” Oliver said while packing the equipment in the case and holding out his hand. “Thank you Mr?”

“Vertigo, Werner Vertigo.” The man said removing his hood to reveal a handsome blonde haired man of 40 with a devilish smile.

Mount Justice,Happy Harbour, RI

“Recognised Batman 02, Black Canary 08” Came the voice of Gideon announcing the two's entrance via the Zeta-Tube in the cave hidden away in mount Justice, the base of operations for the Titans a covert unit of the Justice League comprised of the younger heroes and sidekicks.

Once they had entered, Cyborg was finishing up a briefing for a group of titans that had gathered in front of him. It looked like he was briefing Blue Beetle, Robin, Batgirl, Static, Wondergirl and Impulse before they headed out on their mission. To his side were Nightwing, Oracle and Starfire, who were the senior members of the team which were now in charge of deploying the members on missions instead of Batman like it was beforehand.

Cyborg and Nightwing looked over at the two leaguers for a second before finishing the briefing. 

“Ok you know your mission Gamma squad, hit the facility and get evidence of Luthor's experiments.” Cyborg commanded. 

“Good luck, and take care all of you.” Starfire added adding some warmness to the conversation.

As the team went off, Nightwing and Oracle headed off to the Zeta-Tube, giving Batman and Black Canary a smile before leaving.

“Recognised Nightwing T01, Oracle T11” Gideon called out whilst the leaguers made their way to Cyborg. 

“Hey guys, how can I help you? If it's about Tim and Cass they'll be fine, they've come a long way.” Cyborg said reassuringly whilst closing down one of his holo monitors. 

“You do need to stop babying them.” Starfire interjected in her sweet caring tone.

“She's got a point, ya know, especially when it comes to Tim's girlfriend, what's her name? Stephanie?” Canary added before Batman gave them all a glare to drop the subject.

“It's not about them, is Arsenal currently on a mission?” Batman asked momentarily breaking his formality for a split second.

“He just finished one, he headed back to his dorm at Royal University in Star City.” Cyborg told them which made them sigh as they fired up the Zeta-Tube again.

“Thank you.” Black Canary said before leaving, as Batman didn't bother too.

They headed through the Zeta-Tube to the league's safehouse in Star City, which was a small but powerful armoury in an alley in the city centre. The two grabbed a bike each and rode off towards the University which thankfully wasn't too far away. 

Royal University Dorms, Star City CA

Roy William Harper was a pretty average 19 year old living out in Star City, he was of Navajo descent although not that invested in his heritage as his father Raymond was killed when he was young, many of the adults told him his nickname was Bravebow, made sense given how he was an expert archer and taught Roy everything he knows. As he slouched into his bed he heard a knocking at the door, with a heavy moan he went to see who it was.

He opened the door to find Dinah standing there wearing her usual get up minus the light armaments and holstered weapons. She gave him a smile that warmed Roy's face. 

“Hey Roy.” Dinah said giving him a hug, making sure to ease him as if he was her family.

“Hi Dinah!” Roy said returning the hug as well as the warm feelings.

“You ok? Victor's not been working you too hard?” She said holding the sides of his shoulders. 

“I'm fine, heck with all the rookies that have been coming in recently I've been put in charge more times than I'd like.” Roy replied calming her.

“Ah hem” Batman called out from behind the too, obviously having snuck in through the window. “Didn't realise the two of you were so close.” 

“Hey he's my responsibility, Bruce.” Dinah smirked, being one of the few people that could speak to him this way.

“I presume this isn't a social call.” Roy said removing Dinah's arms and stepping forward.

“Sorry kiddo.” Dinah said patting Roy on the back.

“Last night me and Dinah came into contact with a pair of thieves, one of which being Winnick Norton or as known by London's Metropolitan PD as the Artful Dodger, age 28, south Asian descent and an affair for high end technological weaponry. And then there's his partner and the face of the duo, The Green Arrow Bandit, estimated age 26-34 Caucasian, with a skill set of archery coupled with similar high end tech,” Bruce explained while getting up holographic files and images through a projector on his gauntlet. “Dinah tells me you know the latter of the two, mind explaining?”

Upon Bruce finishing his statements Roy let out a large sigh expecting that this day would come eventually. He crossed his arms trying to figure out what to do next but then ultimately realised he had to tell the truth.

“I used to be his partner, you see when my dad died it was because I was kidnapped by human traffickers, I was sold to a heroin plant on an island near Australasia. I was working there for a few months when I heard that a yacht had shipwrecked on the island and that the only survivor had been coming into the compound and stealing supplies and fighting the criminals who were running it through attacks every so often.” Roy explained while looking down.

“Eventually, this guy attempted to free some of the slaves, but the Mercenaries killed most of the escapees, except for me. Me and the guy in the green hood managed to free everyone from the mercenaries, eventually radioing out for our freedom. That guy I felt like I owed my life to, he became Green Arrow. I wanted to help him, he wanted to fight back against all who abused their power, because he felt guilty for not doing anything before the island, before he realised how he was a part of the same problem.” Roy continued to explain but stopped once Dinah placed a hand on his shoulder to calm him down as this was emotionally affecting him.

“And I agreed with him, these rich guys who dodge taxes, abuse minorities, wage slaves, everything, basically we waged a left wing crusade against the elite. And things were good even rehabilitated Dodger but then I realised, I was the bad guy, on one of the heists, Dinah was there to stop us. I had heard of her she was the Black Canary daughter of one of the Justice Society of America. It was a wake up call for me, I still respected him for trying, but it wasn't in a way that I was comfortable with. So I left, after… I…” 

“Roy you don't need to say it!” Dinah interjected noticing that Roy had began to tear up. 

“No I do!” He commanded while wiping his eyes. “I OD'd on heroin, I barely survived but Dinah had had experience with stuff like this so she helped me. I guess I was taking it because the stress of what we were doing was too much, I just, needed release. I had already tried some while on the island, so it was easy.” Roy held his face in shame, which made Dinah put her arm around him to keep him steady. 

“This man doesn't sound like a very good person.” Bruce said softly while shutting down the holograms.

“No he was! He was more empathetic than practically anyone I had ever met, even Wonder Woman. Yeah he went off the rails a bit but he cared about me and when he found out about my addiction he did everything he could to help.” Roy shouted now sitting on his bed with Dinah wiping his tears with a tissue. “But there's nothing he could do, I just needed to feel like a worthwhile human being, I wanted to be a hero like Dinah, like you.” Roy cried while looking up at Bruce who now decided to take off his cowl.

“Listen he steals from people, he's not made good decisions. I think it's time for you to make the right one.” Bruce said kneeling down to meet Roy's eye level.

“Listen he steals from people to give the money back to people, charities, low income families and institutions. He's not doing it to be selfish.” Roy said sheepishly.

“Roy, results gained through contemptuous means are worthless, he's putting out small fires that won't make a large scale change as people shouldn't be forced to change.” Bruce said while placing a hand on Roy's knee.

“That's what the Justice League does, we lead by example.” Dinah told Roy causing him to nod in agreement. 

“I'll tell you where to find him but I want to be there, I owe him that.” Roy said, standing up and wiping his tears.

“Very well, take us to The Green Arrow Bandit.” Bruce said while pulling on his cowl and deepening his voice, whilst Roy went to his closet and pulled out his bow.


	3. D Day

Miagani Island, City Of Gotham, NJ

“Recognised Batman 02, Black Canary 08, Arsenal T08.” Gideon called out as the three of them Zeta beamed into an old telephone booth in an abandoned alleyway in the heart of Gotham. It was nightfall, the three of them sped down to “The Quiver” a safehouse that Green Arrow used back in Roy's day whenever they were in Gotham. The Batmobile was surprisingly spacious but still extremely fast compared to just about every car on the market, Roy was loving the ride as it was his first time. 

Roy put on his mask as he prepared to fight his former mentor, his suit was very reminiscent of his as well, just without the hood, as Roy never liked how it screwed with his peripheral vision. They eventually reached an old abandoned antique shop in Bristol, it looked like a wreck but Roy knew it was just a front for what was really inside. 

They went down the alleyway next to the store where they found a large metal door blocking their path, as well as finding the black van and motorcycle that the thieves used. Batman used some lock picks to open the locked door but Roy stopped him before he could open it. 

“You promised.” Roy said holding onto to Batman's arm giving him a glare through his eye mask.

“Ok, you have 5 minutes.” Batman told him while standing up and walking to the side next to Black Canary. 

Roy swallowed his breath before unlocking the door and went to face his old mentor again.

On the other side of the door was a large room containing a mini armoury for Oliver and Dodger. To the left was a large computer console which contained the schematic information of their next heist. Dodger was sitting there playing with some of his gadgets. On the right hand side were cases of their weapons and suits, Roy could even see some of his old gear from when he used to work with them. Finally in the centre was a workbench with a backdoor towards the left of the furthest wall where Oliver was busy assembling his arrows for the mission, he had his hood down as he was trying to get used to his new bow.

“So once we get the staff, how are we gonna get it to the Vertigo guy?” Dodger asked, placing one of the discs Vertigo gave him in his coat pocket.

“He said he'll meet us outside, pretty clean deal, if I do say so myself.” Oliver joked while tightening a diamond tipped arrowhead.

All of a sudden the door to the room opened immediately causing the two to jump. Oliver grabbed his crossbow as well as Dodger bringing out his nightsticks ready to engage. The two however, smiled gleefully at the person in the doorway, Oliver barely being able to move.

“Roy!” Oliver said in happiness while dashing towards the teenager and giving him a hug. “How ya doin kid?!” Oliver smiled while holding him up in the air then putting him down and walking him over to the bench.

“Hey Ollie, Winn.” Arsenal smiled warmly while turning to the two.

“That's Dodger to you Speedy!” Dodger replied hitting Roy lightly in the arm as the three laughed as Roy rolled his eyes at the nickname they had given him years ago.

From outside, Batman and Black Canary watched the events unfold in the room through the open doorway. 

“I almost feel bad for this, these guys mean a lot to him.” Canary said while sitting back.

“I don't, because it's Queen, Oliver Queen…” Batman gritted his teeth more than usual at the sight of the smug brat that he was forced to look after while both their parents used to talk privately when they were younger.

He then noticed Oliver rummaging in his pocket while laughing with Arsenal, he eventually pulled out a white pearl necklace, the pearl necklace that he stole from the vault in Wayne Tower, the one Bruce helped pick out when he was only 9, the one his mother wore when she died. 

With that thought, he couldn't think clearly anymore and immediately charged forward, forgetting Arsenal’s soft approach and bolted through the room pushing Dodger aside as if he were a piece of card making him slam against the computer screen. He grabbed Oliver thrusting him off of the ground slamming him against the wall as he barely managed to hold onto the necklace as he was essentially forced against the workbench. 

“What the hell!?” Oliver shouted amongst the confusion now finding himself against the hard cold wall being stared down by the most frightening man on Earth. 

“You bloody wanker!” Dodger shouted while flipping out his nightsticks letting a charge of electricity flow through them, but before he could make a strike against The Dark Knight Arsenal pulled up his bow and aimed an arrow at Dodger holding him in his tracks.

“I'm sorry Dodge, Ollie, I didn't want it to go down like this.” Arsenal regrettably told the two while shedding a tear.

“Kid…” Dodger said in utter astonishment.

Through the corner of his eye Oliver stared at the adult that Roy had become, it was only 4 years ago that they had escaped the island together, wanting to seek justice. Instead of showing disdain towards his pseudo little brother, all Oliver did was smirk with a snarky look in his eye. As he did this he flipped up his crossbow from his free hand that Batman somehow forgot to disarm, aiming it at his head.

“Well, a little Mexican standoff we got here.” Oliver joked at the harsh situation.

“Always got a joke left huh? Just like you, not wanting to show how much this hurts you emotionally so you act like an asshole, did ya even care about Roy?” Batman coldly said while tightening his hand against Oliver's throat despite the impending doom of the crossbow.

As silence over took the room due to the tension reaching an astronomical amount within a split second, Black Canary with a click of her boot walked in.

“Sorry boys.” Canary sassily remarked before bending her knees slightly, positioning her legs in a wider stance, holding her arms up wide and taking a final look at the situation.

Out of her mouth a penetrating destructive sonic force emanating from her mouth creating a deafening cry that could be heard from a few blocks away. Computer screens smashed, lights cracked, Batman's cape had a mini seizure as well as each of the men in the room being completely incapacitated by the cry, they all fell to the floor as they tried to maintain consciousness. 

As a few more seconds of silence took over, Oliver managed to muster enough strength to kick Batman away, pulling up his hood and grabbing his glasses and bow before dashing out the back door which led into an alleyway. She immediately rushed after him at her full speed, Dodger attempted to trip her up but was shoved off. As she left the room the Brit staggered to his feet as well as the two other heroes. 

Dodger ran over to Roy's direction and kicked his bow off to the side before he could retrieve it then turning to face the kid.

“Sorry kiddo, it's not personal.” Dodger told him while attempting to taze Roy with his nightstick but it was knocked out of his hand by a batarang from Batman before he could. After receiving a punch in the face from Roy he stepped backwards hoping that Oliver was having an easier time than him. Dodger threw another one of his nightsticks at Batman before sweep kicking Roy to the ground. He turned his attention to Batman attempting a punch but missing, however managing to counter his next strike hurling him into Roy while turning around. 

“What is it? 15, 16 years you been doing this? I guess you're just getting old.” Dodger taunted while Batman got up to his feet.

“And you criminals just seem to get dumber.” Batman replied while using his grapnel gun to pull Dodger towards himself and administer a punch to his face, giving him a black eye.

Over in the alleyway, Green Arrow jumped upwards to grab onto a fire escape, pulling the ladder down then climbing up it. Canary followed by free running up the side of the wall then slamming a kick into the archer's face which he just barely managed to block. After pushing the blonde backwards he pulled out his crossbow to fire a grapnel arrow up to the top of the roof of the building he was climbing. Canary managed to grab onto his foot taking her with him.

As he barely managed to climb onto the rooftop, Canary managed to maneuver around him wrapping her legs around his head then rolling him over the rooftop then kicking him backwards causing a trail of blood to leave to leave his mouth. 

“How long before I win and you're tied down?” She laughed while getting into a fighting stance.

“I knew from that choker you were into some kinky sh-” Oliver attempted to retort before he was fly kicked in the face and knocked on his backside. “Ow, I deserve that.” he comically said despite the dire moment. 

Downstairs Dodger could barely hold his own with the costumed crime fighters, he eventually managed to get back to the computer console where he grabbed the trigger that Vertigo had supplied to him. 

“Oh hold it right there ya belends! And get ready for Dodger's deus ex machina!” Dodger shouted triumphantly at them while hitting the trigger, causing for Batman to grab Arsenal and shield him with his cape thinking it was bomb, which brought back not to happy memories.

However, nothing had happened, the two stood there with confused faces as to what Dodger was attempting to do. While they stepped aside from one another they saw that Dodger still had a smirk on his face. 

“Was that meant to do something?” Arsenal asked while letting out a small laugh.

“Ey Speedy, never underestimate the Artful Dodger.” With that response the two then managed to hear Dinah screaming from the rooftop. Dodger had slipped one of the metal discs onto her leg while attempting to trip her up earlier. 

As Dinah fell to the ground in pain, Oliver managed to get up and swing around the front of the building to get his motorcycle from the larger alleyway that Arsenal had entered from. The Emerald Archer sped off but not before tossing an electric arrow that overloaded the Batmobile's computer, shutting the system down buying him some time as he headed out to the manor. 

In anger Batman punched out Dodger.

Within a few minutes, Arsenal had helped Canary down from the rooftop as she slowly regained consciousness while Batman tied a knocked out Dodger to a chair while waiting for the Batmobile to reboot. With the three assembled downstairs they woke Dodger up with a shock from one of his own nightsticks.

“Yes Superman you can keep… bollocks” Dodger muttered while waking up from his lewd dream then noticed his current situation, being held captive by three pissed off superheroes. 

“What's he doing Dodger?” Black Canary asked with a stern voice. 

Dodger returned to his suave manner to address the lady. “Sorry luv but I'm not about about to rat out my best-” 

Batman glared at him.

“He's heading to Wayne Manor to steal this weird staff thing for some Vlatavian guy named Vertigo in return for some added tech to boost our gear and to stick it to Wayne for using a shell company to illegally get it in the first place as well as all the other financial crimes he pulls off.” Dodger frantically answer the question after being scared half to death by Batman.

“Oh my God!” Canary gasped in astonishment of how stupid Oliver could be.

“That idiot.” Batman did the same not believing it either. 

“Why, what's going on?” Arsenal turned to ask, wondering what they were on about.

“Mind filling me in too boss?” Dodger added.

With a heavy sigh Batman explained. “The man that hired you is named Count Werner Vertigo, he is one of the principal players in the current civil war taking place in Vlatava. 

“He is also a card carrying member of the Injustice League who attempted to wipe out the League last year, resulting in the death of Blue Beetle and The Flash.” Canary continued to explain, which made Arsenal realise why he didn't know this as it would've been kept as a part of the League to not allow for their identities to get revealed.

“He started the war after the previous king died because he hated the thought of losing out of the monarchy to a 10 year old girl. His lust for power has driven him to use any means necessary. That staff was acquired by the Justice League through Bruce Wayne who assisted us in secret. The staff is enchanted responding to people who have the blood of the Vlatavian royal family giving them extremely dangerous abilities. With that he can take take control of Vlatava and potentially start World War III and most definitely kill Oliver once he gets his hands on it.” Batman finished shocking both Arsenal and Dodger.

“We need to move now!” Black Canary commanded. 

The three headed off to the Batmobile leaving Dodger tied to the chair. 

“Hey I'm not Mr Miracle here, you can't just leave me!” Dodger shouted at the three as they drove off in the fully rebooted Batmobile.

Dodger let out a heavy sigh, “what a bunch of c-”

Wayne Manor, Greater Gotham, NJ

Over in the dimly lit halls of the manor, Tim, Drake also known as Robin, Cassandra Cain otherwise known as Batgirl and their friend Stephanie Brown who was known only to them as Spoiler as Batman had been adamantly against her fighting crime (not for lack of trying), were lounging around in one of the many living rooms watching Netflix.

Tim was wearing a loose fitting red checked button down shirt with ¾ length black shorts, Stephanie had on a simple purple top and white shorts with Cass wearing a black short sleeve shirt and matching skirt. 

Tim was resting on Stephanie's shoulder half drifting off to sleep with her arm around him whilst the girls talked softly over the near mute movie, it was a surprisingly nice and warm evening for this city.

“How has your training been going?” Cass asked in a gentle voice from an armchair positioned to the side of the couch that the couple were lying on.

“Yeah Huntress is awesome! So glad you guys told me about her, although would've preferred it be you.” Stephanie replied while fiddling with Tim's hair.

“Sorry I've just been busy with Titans stuff, which we're not meant to tell anyone about.” Cass apologized while being careful about League secrets. 

“Hey Bruce freaks out enough by you just being here, heck asking Huntress to pull one over on Bruce is like asking a fish to swim” Tim spoke, slightly muffled by Stephanie's purple shirt but causing the girls to laugh at his joke. 

“Sorry to interrupt, but there's a security alert, there's an intruder in the ventilation shaft of the East wing.” Came the voice of Gideon who overtook the TV providing them with security footage of Green Arrow crawling through the vents.

“Ah crap!” Tim sighed whilst removing himself from Stephanie's shoulder.

“Gideon pull up Robin and Batgirl uniforms authorisation T20” Tim called out while getting to his feet.

Slowly two large gunmetal grey columns erected from the floor near the fireplace containing both his and Cass’ suits.

“Steph you got your gear in your bag right?” Tim asked his girlfriend while taking his bo staff from its slot in the column.

“Yep! This is gonna be fun.” Steph called out while pulling her spoiler costume out of a duffle bag she had next to the couch.

While crawling through the cramped vents Oliver realised what was happening, Black Canary and Batman wouldn't be far behind, Dodger was probably out of the picture and his identity was gonna be revealed soon, if he managed to work fast enough he could manage to pawn some diamonds or something to get the cash to the foundation. It was his last chance to do the right thing. To make her proud.

Crash! The vent slammed down onto the hardwood floor of the hallway, the shock causing a vase to fall over which a blonde girl clad in purple and black from head to toe managed to catch at the last minute. He looked up to find Robin, Batgirl and Spoiler standing there ready to fight him. 

“Well that was fast” Oliver nonchalantly sighed, making sure his voice modulator was on.

Robin was wearing his classic black and red uniform with his hood up, holding his bo staff behind his head. Batgirl was wearing head to toe black armour with a yellow outlined bat logo without a single piece of skin showing. Spoiler was wearing her purple and black leather suit and hooded cape, holding two nunchucks in either hand, her black mask covered the lower half of her face exposing her blue eyes and curls of her blonde hair under the hood. 

“Well this is gonna be easy.” Robin snarkily said before getting in a fighting stance. 

“Oh don't be so sure.” Green Arrow said while transforming his newly teched out bow into a melee staff with small hammers at both ends. 

The four proceeded to fight, despite Oliver's lower combat prowess his new bow allowed for him to hold his own as he went between the three young heroes. He managed to use his crossbow to nail Robin with a taser arrow and kick off Spoiler to the side, knocking over the vase she caught earlier. Batgirl however proved to be a challenge, she seemed to have greater training than the other two, nearing the skill level pl of Black Canary, but not quite at the same level. 

He managed to pull a flashbang arrow blinding her for a moment allowing him to rush down the hallway to the wine cellar where the vault was. Once getting there he noticed infrared lasers through his tactical goggles, he pulled out the diamond tipped arrow and used it to shoot at the central pointer in the ceiling to spread out the lasers away from an old looking wooden cabinet amongst the shelves of fine smelling wine.

He slowly walked up to the door and used a specialised glove he had worn on the day of the meeting with Bruce Wayne from earlier to replicate his hand print against the scanner. 

Once opened it he found the staff that Vertigo mentioned from earlier, it was black with a golden dragon hilt. He picked it up feeling it's substantial weight.

“Very good, thank you for your assistance.” Came the almost sinister sounding voice of Vertigo from behind him.

Oliver turned back in shock but then calmed down quickly upon seeing his ally. He strolled over to him with a sway in his step twirling the staff around in his hand. 

“Here you go, a deal's a deal.” Oliver said with a swagger, proud of his work. “I thought you were gonna meet us around back?” 

“Forgive me I grew inpatient.” He said with a smile upon gently taking the cane from the archer's hand.

Oliver nodded and turned around to look at the vault containing many priceless jewels and emeralds, he then removed the pearls from his pocket and placed it amongst them. He then stared at the jewels, he used to look at sights like this with triumph but now. He just felt ashamed that all this would now be coming to an end and all he'll be remembered for is as a common thief, what will that change? 

Nothing.

He closed his eyes and prepared to take the jewels. “Thanks for your help Mr Vertigo…”

“That's Count Vertigo to you peasant!” Vertigo shouted sinisterly at him whilst holding up the enchanted staff. The eyes of the dragon headed hilt glowed green as Oliver was overtaken by the Count’s name sake, vertigo.

His head felt like it was about to split open as the only thought he could think of was how disappointed his own mother would be in him and how he had been tricked by this tyrant and how all the people he tried to help would be alone and forever slaves to the corrupt system of the US government. 

“I failed, I’M SORRY!” Oliver screamed amongst the pain as his whole vision went dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading guys, the next one will be the finale!


	4. World's Finest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry guys for the wait but I had a lot of school work to get done, but here ya go thanks for reading this far!

Oliver could barely breathe, it was over, Count Werner Vertigo, uncle to the Princess of Vlatava started a civil war to take the crown for himself, he had shed so much blood in his conquest and even joined one of the largest criminal organisations in the world to do it, The Injustice League. 

Oliver lay there on the ground as his brain seemingly turned inside out, he could just about hear the dictator's laugh as he overwhelmed him with his mystical cane.

Eventually he stopped. 

For a few precious seconds he let Oliver slowly piece together what had happened and what he helped him do, the type of tyrannical rule that was about to follow would end up killing hundreds including the one of a 10 year old girl who was now about to be crowned Queen of a country she doesn't know the first thing of. 

In his goal to rid the world of elitist punks he ended up helping a man who could potentially start World War III. He failed.

“Vertigo…” Oliver could barely whimper while he was on the ground, finding it excruciatingly hard to even move a finger. 

“That's Count Vertigo to you peasant.” Vertigo remarked in disdain at the wreck that was lying beneath him.

“Didn't you use that line earlier? Man you've got an ego…” Oliver said while battling what felt like the worst migraine of his life. 

Vertigo scoffed at the man's arrogance, disgusted at his very sight, he pressed a button on the cane which popped out a blade from the bottom, and raised it over Oliver's head. “That's soon to be King Vertigo, once I dispatch of you, and that little bi-” 

“Shut your mouth” Shouted the voice of Spoiler as Batgirl jumped up into the air, kicking Vertigo multiple times in the back and then knocked the staff out of his hand and then hurled it towards the other two heroes.

Robin, used his bo staff to slam the cane through a small glass window in the ceiling which led to a field behind the mansion.

Robin and Spoiler joined in the fight with Batgirl, Vertigo brought out two small knives to contend with the kids, proving to be quite the formidable opponent for them. Despite this he soon realised that Batgirl was too strong of a combatant even for him, in addition to the other two, he wouldn't last much longer. He rolled to the side and used his knives to slice open bottles of wine as well as a large barrel of beer.

As he rushed through the isles the falling liquids caused Spoiler and Robin to trip over while Batgirl kicked herself off the sides of the shelves. He got to a the wall where he could see the window above him leading towards the treasure he spent so long looking for. He turned around sharply knocking over the rows of shelves causing them all to topple over each other, which ended up knocking down Batgirl for a brief moment. That moment however was just barely enough time for him to crawl up through the tiny window out onto the back garden, acquiring cuts and splinters along the way the pain of which could mostly be masked by adrenaline.

Once getting to the field, he frantically searched the grass near the wall of the manor until he finally found his staff just as Batgirl slipped through the window which was right at the bottom of the manor’s wall with Robin not too far behind. 

Once the two teens were through they gasped at the sight of Vertigo holding his cane and laughing maniacally. Their expressions were short lived however, as the man hit them with a disorientating wave causing them to get slightly nauseous. 

He didn't want to kill them with the wave as he wanted their deaths to be more brutal. He lunged at Robin knocking him against the wall, grabbing his bo staff in the process using it to slam Batgirl in the face causing her to fall back. She attempted to give a fight but was too disorientated to concentrate, rendering her superior fighting skills mute. Vertigo used the staff and cane together to overpower the girl and knock her to the ground as well. 

As he chucked Robin’s staff to the ground he prepared the blade of his cane to slam directly into Batgirl’s head but was met with a kick to his own from Spoiler who had come up behind him. She kept her distance using her nunchucks to provide countless light but strategic blows to his limbs to take him off balance. Enough so, so that she could grab his precious staff from his hand and deliver a massive blow with her nunchuck to his head.

She dashed away, with a look of utter happiness in her eyes as she made a mental note of this to brag about this later. Speeding about 10 feet away from the supervillain she found herself at a tree with the Vlatavian cane in her hand. 

Vertigo recovered from the meager assault to feast his eyes on the purple and black clad teenager who had his precious weapon.

“Infuriating harlot, I'll kill you for this!” He shouted in a devastating voice while pulling out a throwing knife. 

“Uh huh.” Spoiler sassily responded with a quick cunning but playful look from her eyes at the man to cover up her fear. She then took the staff in her right hand and with all the might she could muster she smashed the hilt of hit onto the tree trunk breaking the cane in half. But as the wood splinters fell to the floor so did she, as Vertigo had hit her with a knife into the side of her left thigh, resulting in a massive shriek of pain as she found herself on the grass with her arms grasping at her bleeding leg.

But before he could move to finish the job a red feathered arrow with a rope attached to the end of it lodged itself in the back of his shoulder. It had been fired by Arsenal who was standing on the roof with Black Canary, who then jumped down and swung Vertigo around and performed a summersault in the air while holding onto the rope in order to send him flying across the grass and passed the tree Spoiler was lying at. As Black Canary zip lined down and joined her protege to give Vertigo the finishing blow Batman picked up Spoiler holding her in much the same way he did with Jason not too long ago, taking her to edge of the grass where Robin and Batgirl were beginning to awake.

“Oh my God, NO!” Robin cried upon seeing his girlfriend in such a state as Batman laid her down on the ground.

Batgirl could hardly speak as her mind couldn't be bothered to remember how after seeing her friend like this. 

“Both of you calm down!” Batman demanded in a loud voice. “I'm not losing another one!” He said while quickly but carefully dislodging the blade and using his medical kit to nurse the wound. 

Black Canary used her tonfas to finish off the sluggish Vertigo, almost disappointed she couldn't have kicked his ass back when he was formidable. In a last ditch effort, he attempted to hit Arsenal with a knife but was stopped by a green feathered arrow that was shot into his wrist.

As Canary slammed the royal with her tonfa, finally dispatching of the supervillain she and the others turned around to find Green Arrow on the first floor balcony smiling at the heroes as he could barely keep on two feet. He eventually ended up falling over which scared the daylights out of Arsenal who grappled up to see if he was ok with Canary following. 

While this was going on Bruce finished bandaging Stephanie's wound, sitting back with a sigh after confirming that she wouldn't bleed out. 

“She’ll be fine.” He said with relief while turning to see that Cass had sat down next to him resting her head against his side in relief of seeing her friend ok as well as looking for fatherly support.

Tim had sat behind Stephanie sitting her up and letting her lean on his chest as his hugged her with his arms, while resting his head in the crook of her neck from behind. 

“Hey I thought you hated being big spoon?” Stephanie joked alleviating the tension, turning her head back to look at her boyfriend while wiping his tears.

“I love you more!” He replied sweetly causing even Bruce to smile.

“I've been unfair to you three, especially you Stephanie. After Jason I didn't want anyone else to be doing this because of me. Tim made me realize that I need people like you around but I continued to be overprotective. I don't want anything bad to happen to you three but I also realize that you're nearly adults, heck Stephanie you're 18.” Bruce said softly breaking his brooding persona. He turned to Steph who was astonished at how nice he was being to her. “ You've earned a place with this team, you earned it months ago but i was too stubborn to see it. The Justice League has a covert team of younger heroes that we deploy on mission called the Ti-”

“She knows- oops...” Cass interrupted but then immediately regretted it, as she forgot to get her mind back into a headspace of speaking, she had mostly grasped the English language within the last year or so, it was remarkable at how fast she could learn but she still forgot to think many times, this was one of them.

“Wait what!?” Bruce replied in a more stern voice and turned to Tim and Cass. “Ok you two are in trouble for that… ugh but Steph, welcome to the Titans.” Bruce said as the kids cheered despite being serious about them being in trouble but shelved it to smile with them.

Over on the balcony, Oliver was waking up while sitting against the glass wall of the fence looking up at Roy and Dinah. A final smack to the face from Dinah woke him up fully grabbing his attention. 

“I think he's a awake.” Dinah smiled while looking at Roy then sitting back on the floor, removing her leather jacket to relax.

Roy was sitting in front of Oliver looking away slightly while fiddling with his bow, he began to speak while looking down in shame “Ollie, I'm sorry for telling them about-”

“No Roy, don't apologize, I broke the law multiple times for my own selfish reasons no matter how good intentioned they were. I'm so proud of you Speedy. You are a superhero, how cool is that? I'm sorry I wasn’t the mentor you needed so I'm thankful to you Dinah for being there for him and taking care of him as if he were your own.” Oliver interrupted and explained while turning to the two of them

Roy began to tear up slightly causing Oliver and Dinah to hold his shoulders reassuringly, once the boy calmed down she turned to Oliver.

“I've got to know why did you do all this in the first place?” Dinah asked sincerely turning to Oliver. 

With a deep breath he explained. “All while I was growing up I had everything, not a care in the world, I just spent my money on parties. I didn't care about anyone I was just a spoilt brat and whenever I did something wrong or got in trouble my dad would bail me out. He didn't let me suffer any consequences for my actions he cared more about his reputation and holding onto every scrap of power he could then actually being a parent.” Oliver heaved while remembering his father.

He took a deep breath.

“My mom on the other hand, she always reprimanded me, tried to make me do more with my time in my resources, even made me take up archery. But I ignored her because I wanted to be free as my dad let me do whatever I wanted. But then the island happened, I met people at that heroin plant, people in the world institutionally hated. I realise that there was so much wrong in the world and so much of it was done by the people in power. Racist cops, climate change, incoming inequality, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, sexism… basically... I watched a non stop Bernie Sanders speech” Oliver continued, doing his best to lighten the mood at the end. 

“Once I got home I was determined to make it right, look my mom in the eye and tell her I was sorry. But I couldn't, because she died of cancer while I was gone, and my dad. He didn't care he was sleeping with whatever barely legal girl he could get. He never gave a crap about the Queen Foundation, never gave a crap about all the people he screwed over. All the people who died because he jacked up their Healthcare costs, all the ones who were shot daily because of the partnership with the NRA. He was ruining this country and everyone would let him get away with it because of his money. I felt so guilty for not realising it before, I had to do something, I had to get justice.”

“So he was the first person we took down.” Roy remarked finishing the story that had gotten too hard for Oliver to tell. “We managed to dig up evidence of his tax evasion and toxic waste dumping. The Green arrow threatened to expose him. Even after he paid up the the money he stole, Oliver wasn't satisfied so he took everything as well as uploading the findings to the internet putting his father in prison for a long time.” 

Oliver looked down not wanting to look Dinah in the face.

“That's when I became The Green Arrow Bandit.” Oliver finished, being ashamed at the term. “But it did nothing, I'm only seen as a thief now, and you can't build a better world with the corruption that dooms this one. You need to be better than them, which I wasn't.” Oliver said whilst looking down and giving a long look to his bow before continuing.

“Anyways I think it's time for Dinah to carry out her longtime fantasy of putting me in handcuffs and taking me away.” Oliver remarked with a devilish smile towards the end as he prepared for the inevitable, which caused Roy to cringe while facepalming, thinking of the time he accidentally walked in on her and Batwoman having a one night stand. 

Dinah smiled to herself while looking at the expressions of both Oliver and Roy when taking into account her next decision.

“Not today Oliver.” Dinah spoke up amongst the silence, playing up the double entendre. 

Hall of Justice, Washington DC  
1 Week later

Oliver walked up the steps of the Hall of Justice which was currently closed to the public but it didn't stop the hundreds of tourists who were walking past and taking pictures of the sight that was once home to the Justice Society of America and now the apparent HQ of the Justice League.

As he approached the glass front doors, he didn't know what to do and attempted to knock but the door was opened before he could. He was greeted by Captain Atom, leader of the Justice League who stood inside the doorway, hiding from the tourists who would hound him beyond belief.

“Welcome Mr Queen.” The Captain said while welcoming him inside the doorway and led him through the foyer which contained massive golden statues on the wall of the original founding Leaguers. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the late Flash, One of the Green Lanterns, Aquaman and Martian Manhunter. Oliver looked up in astonishment at the sight of Earth's mightiest heroes.

“I take it you're whelmed.” Captain Atom remarked at the ex billionaire's bewilderment.

“Whelmed?” Oliver asked wondering if he heard the man correctly.

“Ugh, sorry Nightwing has everyone saying it.” He explained while walking Oliver through to the library which was through a doorway underneath the statues.

Once inside he saw a sophisticated looking library with a large computer console at the back and next to it a large double door saying “Justice League Members Only”. In the room stood Black Canary and Batman who he still had a subconscious aversion to.

“Thanks for not arresting me, and don't worry I hung up the hood, might I ask why you brought me here?” Oliver asked with his trademark care free attitude while looking at the pictures of the JSA on the walls. 

“Actually we don't want you to hang it up.” Captain Atom said while joining the other two Leaguers. 

“Huh?” Oliver responded in confusion.

“Due to your skill set and proof of character last week, Black Canary and Batman petitioned to have you join the team.” Captain Atom told him while handing him a Justice League identification card. Oliver was losing his mind at what he was saying, he couldn't help but stare at the card intently, wondering how they got such a good picture of him in his costume for the photo.

“Don't get us wrong, you can't go stealing and terrorising CEOs anymore, but if you can gather the evidence and pass it through the right channels you can still be a sort of Robin Hood. Captain Atom said while standing back.

“And you can use Justice League resources to carry out all the humanitarian actions you want.” Black Canary added.

“The choice is yours Oliver.” Batman said while folding his arms.

“Uh… uh…. Yes! Thank you so much!” Oliver said in astonishment while going to shake Captain Atom's hand aggressively, while also giving a playful look to Dinah out of the corner of his eye. “I do have one condition-” 

“Dodger escaped.” Batman said bluntly while showing security images of the thief in Las Vegas having a good time pickpocketing people in a casino.

“What how? That sunnova-” Oliver smiled, happy that his friend was doing what he loved.

“Superman to The Hall of Justice,” suddenly a video call of Superman automatically opened on the large computer screen that was the size of the whole wall. “It appears that Ra’s Al Ghul is moving a force towards Byalia and he has several metahumans with him, if he reaches there it could cause an international incident.” Superman explained while looking to be in the Watchtower. 

“Alright we'll meet you there at the Qurac Zeta Tube and plan accordingly, call all available Leaguers.” Captain Atom ordered while pressing a button down on the console which opened up the door that read “Justice League Members Only” it revealed a large tunnel like room with a light at the end, it was a Zeta-Tube.

“We have your gear at the Watchtower let's head there first, we'll Zeta there.” Batman told Oliver as the four of them moved into the Zeta-Tube.

“What's a Zeta?” Oliver asked while stepping into one. 

“You're about to find out” Batman said coldly while Black Canary smiled at how whenever a person teleports for the first time, most end up throwing up. 

“Sure thing Brucey.” Oliver remarked capturing Batman's attention. “What? why else were all your sidekicks in Wayne Manor?” which made Batman role his eyes and Captain Atom hide his slight offence as he didn't even know while Gideon called out their designations.

“Recognised, Batman 02, Black Canary 08, Captain Atom 11…

“... Green Arrow 20”


End file.
